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Proving a negative in history: the non-appearance of the Hungarian football team at the Melbourne Olympic Games in 1956

Murray, Les and Hay, Roy 2013, Proving a negative in history: the non-appearance of the Hungarian football team at the Melbourne Olympic Games in 1956, Sporting traditions, vol. 30, no. 2, pp. 1-14.

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Title Proving a negative in history: the non-appearance of the Hungarian football team at the Melbourne Olympic Games in 1956
Author(s) Murray, Les
Hay, Roy
Journal name Sporting traditions
Volume number 30
Issue number 2
Start page 1
End page 14
Total pages 14
Publisher Australian Society for Sports History
Place of publication Melbourne, Vic.
Publication date 2013-11
ISSN 0813-2577
Keyword(s) Sports history
Hungary
1956 Melbourne Olympic Games
sport in socialist societies
Hungarian communist regime
football
Summary In this article we examine why Hungary, despite having the best football team in the world, did not enter the competition at the 1956 Melbourne Olympic Games. We examine several explanations and find them to be based on errors and misconceptions. Given the significance of sport in socialist societies, we believe that the most likely explanation lies in the relationship between the Hungarian communist regime and that of the Soviet Union. Ongoing archival research suggests that the Hungarian regime did not enter a football team because it wanted to assist the Soviet Union in winning the gold medal, which it was thought would demonstrate the moral superiority of communism. This proposition is supported by a 2012 interview with Jenö Buzánszky, one of the two survivors of the Hungarian team.
Language eng
Field of Research 210307 European History (excl British, Classical Greek and Roman)
Socio Economic Objective 950504 Understanding Europe's Past
HERDC Research category C1 Refereed article in a scholarly journal
HERDC collection year 2013
Copyright notice ©2013, Australian Society for Sports History
Persistent URL http://hdl.handle.net/10536/DRO/DU:30060004

Document type: Journal Article
Collection: School of Humanities and Social Sciences
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